jbenne23

Hello

Today I walked by my fish tank, and two of our silver mollies were chasing each other in a circles and stopped and looked like they were kissing, and I know fish don't do that. lol But anyway it looked like thet were nibbling on each other....I was wondering if someone could identify this behavior.....maybe they are breeding?....

Sabi

Maybe, but its more like they are fighting i think.... Were they male and female?

jbenne23

Male and Female....

armadillo

Afraid they were fighting. I've just seen this today in my tank after some fish/tank reshuffling. Two new tankmates are not getting on whatsoever (in my case, 2 females).

When they're mating, the male looks more like he's smelling her sides with his nose than taking bites. When they fight, they look like they're kissing. They do that mouth movement.

2 mollies might be too few as there'll constantly be a competition. I'd say at the very very very least 2 females per male (to prevent female from being exhausted to death by sexual harassment), and at least 3 mollies to prevent constant reassertion of pecking order (hence constant fights). I normally recommend 3 females per male for mollies, but you're a little stuck for space.

It may well be that you're lucky and these two fish find a way of getting one in a couple of days, but definitely do provide plenty of hiding places for the one who'll end up constantly loosing.

jbenne23

Well I originally started out with 4 Mollies. Howeverand sadly one passed on. I was left with 2 male and 1 female...should i get some females?

armadillo

Oh I see. Sorry you lost one. Definitely more males than females spells trouble. She may be harassed to death, literally. Also, with just 2 males, the two might be at loggerheads all the time. If you have the room, I'd get:

- one more male and
- enough females so that each male has at least access to 2 females. (i.e. + 5 females)
Total = 3 males + 6 females = 9 fish

If you dont' have the room for 9 fish, I'd get rid of one of your present males (back to the LFS) and replace it with 2 females. Then, you'll have 1 male to 3 females. Perhaps you can get away with 1 male to 2 females if your male isn't too much of a hotpants.

jbenne23

Thanks for your advice..I most likely will follow it to the extent my tank allows.

I have a 30 Gallon Tank.

It consists of the following:

3 Silver Mollies (2 Male, 1 Female)
1 Swordtail (Female; the male tradgicly jumped out of the tank in the middle of the night)
2 Dojo Loaches (what I think is one male and one female)
2 Dwarf Fire Gouramis (2 Male, Desperately Looking for Females, but cannot find any)
4 Gold Barbs ( Not sure how to sex these so I don't know how many males or females)
4 Ghost Shrimp (one carrying eggs)
1 African Dwarf Frog
3 Snails( Tank Maintnance)


How many fish do you think could fit in this tank....I mean I have thought about getting another 30 Gallon from my parents. But I thought This tank hasn't overpopulated. Could I fit 3 female mollies and 2 female gouramis(which I can't find) in it?

PLEASE HELP!

Also I have a major question about my local Petco. THey have Some assorted Gouramis that are not listed as male or female on sale. I noticed that on one of the gouramis had ich, so i refused to buy them. Is Ich ususally easy to cure in a quarintine tank without a thermometer? Just a curious question.

Thanks for your help so far!

Jason

armadillo

Hi Jason

The general rule of thumb is 1 inch of adult fish per gallon. You're allowed more for light polluters like otos, and less for high polluters like mollies, plecos, and any large fish. You should do some maths on your population and see where you get to.

I wouldn't buy a fish that you see is sick in the shop already, but ich is really common indeed, and relatively easy to fix if taken early.

It's just a question of increasing your tank temperature (don't remember to what temp though, sorry) and adding salt (if your type of fish can deal with salt). I'd then leave the fish in quarantaine for a little while (don't know what the incubation period of ich is, but I tend to leave cured fish in quarantaine for about 1 week). As the easiest treatment for ich is to increase the tank temperature, I'd definitely get a thermometer.